HONOLULU -- The missile alert Hawaii mistakenly sent to the public has prompted the Federal Communications Commission to recommend government workers avoid using the phrase "this is not a drill" during practice sending emergency notices.
The FCC included the advice Tuesday in its final report on what went wrong when Hawaii in January accidentally warned a ballistic missile was about to hit the islands.
A Hawaii Emergency Management Agency employee sent the alert during an exercise. He thought it was a real emergency but other workers understood it was an exercise.
The report says a supervisor played a recorded script that included the phrase "this is not a drill" and that deviated from procedure.
